Category Archives: Joe Mantegna

Hi folks and welcome to another Simpsons Sunday. For those who may be reading this blog for the first time, it is called as such because I am in fact blind since birth. I do all the writing using my iPhone with a Bluetooth keyboard and I use dictation. However, there are sometimes when I have to use the screen and I also use the iPhones built in screen reading software called voice over. If you don’t know what that is and you have an iPhone: go to settings, general, accessibility then look for voiceover. Tap on that. Turn voiceover on and if you want to know more, just ask. Especially, if you use your eyesight to navigate the phone.

Well, did you watch Friend With Benefit? Lisa indeed did meet her new friend Harper, voice by Kristen Bell. She is spoiled and really, that’s all you need to know about her and her father. I’m glad that Homer stood up for himself and Lisa, despite the reaction from Harper’s father. I certainly felt sorry for Lisa when Harper would always interrupt her when she tried to say something and that really bug me.😠

This week there are two birthdays to talk about, for two supporting cast members: Joe Mantegna and Maggie Roswell. They voice reoccurring characters on The Simpsons and have their own careers outside the series.

Joe Mantegna of course, voices the mob boss in the Springfield mafia Fat Toney and or Fit Fat Toney. Fat Toney first appeared in the Season 3 episode Bart The Murderer and last appeared in the Season 22 episode Donnie Fatso, where he was killed off and replaced by his cousin Fit Toney, now known as Fit Fat Toney. Some people have said that Fat Toney may have inspired the character Tony Soprano from the TV show The Sopranos, portrayed by James Gandolfini. I think maybe that’s true in a sense but it could also be a coincidence because The two characters sound so much alike, if you pay attension to the voices. All though, Tony soprano’s voice was a bit deeper because James Gandolfini’s voice is a bit lower then Joe Mantegna’s voice. Otherwise, they sound almost alike.

Joe turned 68 on Friday and besides The Simpsons he has a starring roll as FBI Special Agent David Rossi on the CBS show criminal minds. I used to watch it as much as I could and my favourite episode was from Season 4. It is about a serial killer portrayed by Alex O’Loughlin as Vincent, who would kill people with a knife. This includes his 24-year-old friend, which promps him to ask for help in stopping his homicidal tendencies via video tape. For the record, the episode is called the big wheel. The exception to his killing spree was a blind boy named Stanley he became close with, after murdering the boy’s Mother. My guess is that she is the first victim in the episode, as she is at work and she mistakingly refers to him as Robert.

For more about Joe Mantegna check out his website. http://joemantegna.com/ and you can also follow him on Twitter @JoeMantegna. I think there is a lot to learn about him, through both his Twitter page and other internet sources. Keep up all the great work on The Simpsons and with other TV shows and movies you are involved in and thanks for all the years of continued entertainment.

Maggie Roswell turned another year older yesterday and for her part, she voices a few recurring characters on The Simpsons. They include: Luann Van Houten, Mary Bailey, Helen Lovejoy, Elizabeth Hoover, Shary Bobbins and Maude Flanders to name a few. Of course, the last two I mentioned are deceased characters. Although Maude has reappeared in flashbacks and as her own ghost. I actually liked Maude because Maggie was able to make her sound the most normal and sweet out of all the characters she voices on The Simpsons. I guess that’s why she was chosen to be one of the supporting cast members, along with Pamela Hayden.

Let us not forget that she is also able to voice such a character as Helen Lovejoy, who is actually one of my least favorite characters of all on the show. This is because of her rather annoying way of saying the following phrase, which is her catch phrase “won’t someone please think of the children. “If you hear it once you’ll understand why I cannot stand that character. However, I don’t hold it against anybody for her existence. Like it or not, she’s important to the show and its cast of characters, as they all are to each other in Springfield.

Back to Maude flanders for a moment… I think if she was still alive she would have probably become one of the most loved characters, along with her husband at the time, Ned. I like her because she called him Nedy when other characters called him Ned. Once again, I don’t hold it against any of the Simpsons staff for killing off Maude when they did. Really, the only one who could have voiced Maude and given her her signature sound is Maggie, along with all her characters she voices.

Something else about Maude I have read and found to be untrue is that she never showed any emotion such as anger. Well, maybe she never got angry but she did show worry about Ned when he was missing in the episode In Marge We Trust. A list on the internet of the Top 15 most annoying characters, made her a part of the list along with Helen Lovejoy. The former, I can understand but the latter, no. Here is the link to the list. http://whatculture.com/tv/simpsons-15-annoying-characters-ever.php This list also included Lisa Simpson too and I disagree with that too. Also, if you take out the fact that Maude was Ned Flanders’s wife she would be just a nice lady next door but that wouldn’t have been as funny. She would have just been this nice lady who Marge would get along with and Homer would longingly lust after. Maybe she would have babysat Bart Lisa and Maggie. I’m just saying it could have been a possibility too but the character has turned out fine the way she has been.

Check out her website http://www.maggieroswell.com/. I took a brief look and I had no idea what she did outside The Simpsons and outside of her other work as an actress, before finding it on her Twitter page @MaggieRoswell. She is also a great singer and of course, she has show’n this talent off on The Simpsons especially during the first few seasons. Remember Shary Bobbins? You know? it was the episode where Homer and the kids were being especially lazy and Marge lost her hair? Okay, if that doesn’t ring a bell, it was the episode in which she shows up as the new nanny and encourages Bart and Lisa that household chores can be fun. She also changes the other citizens of Springfield to be less fat lazy and stupid, thanks to her gental nature. Albeit, but briefly.. It would be nice if she wasn’t killed at the end too and her and Groundskeeper Willie kissed and made up! 😞

Thanks for all the work you do, inside and outside The Simpsons and keep singing. That is also one of my favourite things to do too, as most of my Twitter followers and Facebook friends know. I also like voices and imitating different Voice timbers and dialects. I wish there was a way that I could tweet out my voice on Twitter using the iPhone or any iOS device! Maybe there is but I haven’t found it yet. I’d be tweeting out my impressions of varius Simpsons characters to many people, for fun and so I could show off my own voice talents.
Well that’s about it for this Simpsons Sunday post. In the mean time, I recommend checking out Chris Ladesma’s blog. He is the Music Editor for The Simpsons and has been since day 1.http://simpsonsmusic500.wordpress.com/author/simpsonsmusic500/
Also, check out Yeardley Smith’s blog at http://gobbingoff.tumblr.com
Don’t forget about Marchez Vous, which is her women’s shoe designer company, which she started earlier in the decade. You can check out their website athttp://www.marchesvous.com
Additionally, for more news on The Simpsons, you can go to http://news.simpsonswiki.com/
You can also comment here or you can email me at blindgordie@gmail.com and I will reply as soon as I can to all messages I receive. If you follow me on Twitter or are my friend on Facebook you can comment directly to me that way too.
You can follow Simpsons Executive Producer Al Jean on Twitter and his Twitter handle is @AlJean.
He has ran the show since Season 13 and has ran it during Seasons 3 and 4.
Anyway, that is it for this weeks post. Talk to you again on Weather Wednesday.